Angel Cabrera is widely regarded as one of the world's longest hitters and he unleashed all his awesome power to open a one shot lead after the second round of the 2008 Barclays Scottish Open at Loch Lomond.

The 2007 US Open champion hit the green in two at the 560 yard par-5 13^th and then smashed his drive into eight feet on the 371 yard par-4 14^th on his way to carding a three under par 68 and a 36 hole aggregate of nine under par 133.

Cabrera goes into the third round one shot in front of Ireland's Damien McGrane and two clear of an international quintet comprising 1996 champion Thomas Björn, 1999 Open champion Paul Lawrie, England's Simon Khan, Australia's Richard Green and first round leader Thongchi Jaidee who added a level par 71 to his opening 64.

Cabrera has the power to overcome even the longest courses and he showed it in abundance during his opening 14 holes when he collected six birdies and dropped just one shot on the treacherous 455 yard tenth.

At that stage the Argentine golfer looked as if he might duplicate his opening 65 but he dropped two shots over his closing four holes including one at the last where he drove into the edge of a bunker and then missed the green in two.

Ireland's Damien McGrane arrived at Loch Lomond in 20^th place on the European Tour's Order of Merit after a win in the Volvo China Open and a second place finish in the Indian Masters and he started brightly with a three under par 68 before adding a five under par 66 that included three birdies and an eagle at the 518 yard par-5 fifth.

1999 Open champion Paul Lawrie finished one shot further back in the tie for third place on seven under par 135 after an impressive 67 which included three birdies and an eagle on the 560 yard par-3 13^th. Indeed the popular Aberdonian would have tied McGrane but for a dropped shot on the ninth which was his last hole of the day.

The Australian Green also stuttered coming home after appearing that he might catch Cabrera at the top of the leaderboard. He was tied for the lead after collecting his seventh birdie of the day on the 14^th but then dropped shots at the 15^th, 16^th and 18^th to fall back into the pack.

Low scoring was the order of the day among the early starters and none went lower than Australia's Matthew Millar who matched the seven under par 64 Thongchai Jaidee had managed during the opening round.   

The 31 year-old from Wollongong in New South Wales arrived at Loch Lomond languishing in 146^th on the Order of Merit but he can forget about his money worries if he can replicate the sort of form he showed while climbing into a share of eighth place alongside Robert Dinwiddie, David Lynn, Jeev Milkha Singh, Henrik Stenson and Lee Westwood on six under par 136.

Millar started with a burst of four birdies in his opening five holes and closed out his first half with another birdie on the 340 yard par-4 ninth. He matched Lawrie's eagle on the 13^th and birdied the 371 yard 14^th before dropping a shot for the second consecutive day on the 455 yard par-4 closing hole.

Meanwhile America's Phil Mickelson scored the second hole-in-one of the Championship when his 5-iron at the 190 yard par-3 fifth hopped once and rolled into the hole.

That bit of good fortune helped the World's No 2 to add a 67 to his opening 71 and to move into a share of 27th place alongside a large group including Ernie Els and Adam Scott.

One man who will not be around for the weekend is former champion, Colin Montgomerie, who had opened strongly with a 69 but carded a four over par 75 in the second round to post a two round aggregate of two over par 144.

The Scot was two over par after 12 holes and then missed a series of chances before compounding his problems with bogeys on the two final holes. He will now go home to his new home in Perthshire before travelling south to Royal Birkdale in search of his elusive first Major title.

Other big names to miss the cut were 2005 US Open champion Michael Campbell (69-74), Darren Clarke (71-73), Paul Broadhurst (71-74), Bradley Dredge (75-70) and recent French Open champion Pablo Larrazabal (69-77)

It was also a bad day for the three amateurs who were invited to play in the Championship. 2007 Scottish Amateur champion, John Gallagher, opened promisingly with a three over par 68 but could do no better than 75 in the second round to miss the cut on 143 and he was later joined on the sidelines by both 2008 Amateur champion Reinier Saxton from Holland and 2007 Scottish Amateur Order of Merit leader Callum Macaulay.